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Tuesday, May 23 10:05pm ET
Williams has two hits in return to lineup | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
PHOENIX (AP) -- Matt Williams tried to remain calm, especially after talking with Arizona manager Buck Showalter. "Buck had a couple of words for me tonight. He said, `Hey, let the game come to you. Do what you do.' " Williams, playing for the first time this season, went 2-for-4 and started three double plays at third base Tuesday night in the Diamondbacks' 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. "If liked it, I'd swing at it, and try to get on for Steve so he can hit a three-run homer," Williams said. Steve Finley drove in four runs with his 17th homer -- a 432-foot shot into the right-field grandstand in the first inning off Jimmy Anderson (1-2) -- and a sacrifice fly in the fifth off Rich Loiselle. "He continues to swing the bat as well as I've seen him over a long period of time," said Showalter, who got a 44th birthday gift when his team snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in eight games. Williams, who broke his right foot March 28 when he fouled off a pitch during spring training, singled twice and scored one run. He was coming off a short rehab assignment in the minors. "I think I saw more ground balls tonight than I did the whole six games in Double-A, so they tested me," Williams said. "When those left-handers hit ground balls at you at third base, it's not fun. But I saw the ball fine." Brian Giles, a left-handed batter, hit into two of the double plays started by Williams. Brian Anderson (4-0) gave up the one run and eight hits, struck out three and walked none in eight innings. He picked off Warren Morris after a leadoff single in the first. "We've had trouble with him before," Pirates manager Gene Lamont said. "Maybe that's the kind of lefty we have trouble with." Anderson allowed five hits in the first two innings, but retired 14 of his last 16 batters and stayed in the game despite taking a smash off the bat of Jason Kendall in the sixth inning. It bruised Anderson's left shin and went for an infield hit. "A lot of those early hits, they were just flipping the ball in, and I knew if I stayed with a game plan and maybe made a pitch an inch better here or there, I'd be successful," said Anderson, who threw only 86 pitches before giving way to Matt Mantei. "Pitch count has nothing to do with it," Showalter said. "Matt Mantei needs to pitch. It's been really 19 days since he pitched in a game." Mantei, activated from the disabled list Sunday, finished with a hitless ninth, walking one in his first appearance since May 4. Jimmy Anderson was rocked for for six runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. In addition to Finley's homer, Jay Bell hit an RBI triple in the fifth and scored on a double by Luis Gonzalez. Loiselle allowed three hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings, his first major league appearance since May 5, 1999, when he lost at St. Louis. He spent most of last year and all this spring in rehabilitation after surgery on a ligament in his right elbow. Wil Cordero hit a first-inning sacrifice fly and extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the third inning. Tony Womack singled in the eighth, extending his hitting streak to 18 games to tie Dmitri Young for the longest in the NL this season. Game notesFinley's homer was his eighth off a left-hander. ... The Pirates have had an extra-base hit in each game this year. Jason Kendall extended the streak to 43 with a first-inning triple. ... Jimmy Anderson has given up a run in the first inning in five consecutive starts, a total of 13 in eight starts, and has not started a game 1-2-3 all year. ... Arizona minor league RHP John Patterson, long considered a future starter, will have surgery Thursday to replace a ligament in his right elbow. Dr. James Andrews of Birmingham, Ala., will operate. Andrews also did Loiselle's surgery. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Pittsburgh Clubhouse Arizona Clubhouse Opening day in May: Williams 2-for-4 in return to Arizona lineup
RECAPS Baltimore 4 Seattle 2
Arizona 6
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